Over the weekend, my husband and I took our daughter to Opryland to see the Grinch who stole Christmas ice sculpture display. It was a brave mission to complete since it was a Saturday and Saturdays tend to be the busiest day at the Ice exhibit. I'm not too sure that Darrell was as excited as I was. He tends to be the realist in these situations. I always seem to forget how much I hate crowds, pushy people, and traffic. This time, he followed along with me and my insanity and off we went into what I now consider Christmas pandemonium.

We got to Opryland without a hitch. No traffic on the interstate and Briley Parkway was an unusual breeze. I pulled into the parking lot and thought that the whole experience was going to be as easy as the commute.

I have never been more wrong!

As we made our way to the Grinch green gaslight theatre that housed the exhibit, I started noticing a slight line. I was still thinking that it was going to be no big deal. We walked and walked and walked until we reached the end of the line where my husband noticed that the line was for ticket holders only. Well, we were yet to be ticket holders….So, that meant that we would have to find the ticket window, wait in line there, then get in the real line. This was not going to happen. It simply would not work with a freshly potty trained two year old. There was bound to be an accident of some sort. So, we decided that we had better skip the Grinch and head to the mall. Opry Mills started out peaceful.. That peace was short lived though. I have never in my life been in mall situation like that! People were pushing and grabbing and making the whole experience very unpleasant. Darrell wanted to look at a knife in the knife store but he couldn't because of people pushing him away from the case. I also have to mention the fashions of some of the shoppers. If you're a woman and you are going out in public, Please please make sure that your shirt covers your belly.

I am talking about your bulging belly. I saw so many women with clothes so tight that their belly could not hide!

Anyway, after standing in line for 30 minutes at the Build a Bear workshop, we decided that it was time to go.

As we made our way back to the car, I noticed that the line to the Grinch exhibit was slightly smaller. I was willing to brave it if Darrell was up for the challenge. Ava as was really excited to see the Grinch and all the creatures of Whoville. I thought since we were already at Opryland, we might as well do what we were there for. Darrell was apprehensive. I could tell that he just wanted to go home and watch the football game, but darn it, we were gonna see the frozen Grinch if it was the last thing I did!

As I was waiting in a very short ticket line, I noticed that there was a VIP entrance. When my turn came, I asked the lady what I had to do to be a VIP and she told me that I would have to pay $10 extra per ticket and I could bypass every single person in that long long line. At that point, I would've paid $20 extra not to have to wait for 2 hours. After we got our tickets, it was amazing! They gave us our coats, (it is 9 degrees in there) and we were in the door! At first, Ava was a little weirded out about seeing the big green Grinch, but in no time she was loving it. It was impressive. The detail of each scene and the colors were fantastic. They had a huge slide carved from ice and a very pretty nativity scene. While I'm not sure if the experience was worth the long lines, it was fun to see and I am pretty sure that we will go back next year. As VIPs' of course!